Black Africans come under fire in Libya

As Libya’s National Transitional Council establishes itself in Tripoli as the country’s interim government and begins to lead the recovery process, reports have surfaced that NTC-affiliated fighters are targeting black Libyans and migrant workers with violent retribution.

Earlier reports alleged that ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi had hired mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa to push back rebel fighters, though it remains unclear how many of those soldiers may have remained in the country after the uprising began. Some groups of mercenary fighters have abandoned Gaddafi’s forces and fled into neighbouring Mali and Niger.

As fighting slows down in parts of the country, black Libyans and African labourers face chronic accusations of being Gaddafi’s hired mercenaries. NTC fighters have reportedly been rounding up and detaining accused mercenaries even if they are found unarmed.

By some estimates, more than 5,000 black migrants have been detained in makeshift jails around the country, and others have faced beatings, revenge killings, and even mass execution. Mercenary fighters found armed have been summarily executed, according to reports.

Most detainees maintain that they were not involved in fighting and are simply migrant workers detained without evidence.

Black women in refugee camps reported night-time kidnappings and rapes by fighters though to be associated with the NTC. Officials with the National Transitional Council deny such reports.

Partially in response to reports of race-based violence and detention in Libya, the African Union has refused to recognize the legitimacy of Libya’s interim government. It alleges that the persecution of blacks in the country amounts to human rights violations that fully delegitimise the post-Gaddafi leadership.

The United Nations has called on fighters and leaders on both sides of the conflict to prevent acts of retribution.

Before the Libyan uprising broke out earlier this year, the country hosted about a million black African workers, many of them employed in domestic work, construction, trash collection, and other low-wage jobs. Even before the fighting began, these workers faced widespread racism and discrimination.

Many workers are undocumented and therefore have no access to legal recourse.

Patrick Cockburn joins today’s show via Skype to discuss racial tensions in Libya and the roundup of accused mercenaries.

These are some of the social media elements featured in this episode of The Stream.

In Libya, Mercenaries or Migrants?

Counter-revolutionary, western-backed rebels in Libya round up Africans on behalf of their CIA and neo-colonial masters. Nigerians, Ghanaians and other Africans, including black Libyans have been arrested, beaten and killed by the reactionaries.flickr.com

The description of the photo was written by its original poster, not The Stream or Al Jazeera.

Foreign migrant workers have set up makeshift camps outside Tripoli to escape persecution by Libyan gangs.

Dark skinned people in Libya say they suffer at hands of fightersAlJazeeraEnglish

The organisation Amnesty International released a report recently which, aside from documenting human rights violations by Gaddafi's government, claims that the Libyan rebels "committed abuses that sometimes amounted to war crimes."

Several tweets have echoed the report's findings.

Human Rights Watch calls on Libyan National Council to stop the arbitrary arrests and abuse of African migrant workers and black Libyans....tertius_lydgate

The video depicts the torture and killing of a black Libyan police officer who was thought to be a mercenary for Gaddafi. The video includes graphic images.

Black Libyan police man was tortured, abused and the killed for been accused "African Mercenaries"The guy you seen killed in this video is a libyan police man been captured, tortured, raped and then killed in a very dirty way where his head was spareted from his body. He was accused "An African Mercenaries hired by Gaddaffi forces".

A mass grave was recently discovered in Tripoli, and some suspect it holds the bodies of black migrant workers mistaken for mercenaries.

Ghadafi himself was a terrible leader and as a result libya itself looked like a war-torn country so it was unthinkable for one, especially a black african who claims there is 'civil strife' in his country to move to libya. Some of these immigrants are wanted hardened criminals and that is the reason they are not ready to go back to their various countries even if there is a way outJulius Bart- Biney

Thumbnail image: A man of African origin hides in a farm in the outskirts of Tripoli due to fears of being accused of serving as a mercenary for former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi August 30, 2011. They have struggled to find food or water due to being in hiding. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra